Super Mario Strikers (also known as Mario Smash Football in Europe and Australia) is Mario's first ever soccer game, and the final Mario release for the Nintendo GameCube. The game features a version of soccer without referees and rules, and has Power-Ups and special strikes which count as two goals. Its sequel, Mario Strikers Charged was released for the Wii in 2007. This was the last Mario game released for the Nintendo GameCube in Japan and North America. In Europe and Australia, Mario Party 7 holds this distinction.

In comparison to actual soccer, the game features a smaller version of the soccer pitch, and each team has only five members, instead of the usual eleven-a-side rule. The match time can be manually set from 2 to 15 minutes, but is defined as 5 minutes by default. If necessary, a Sudden Death follows the regular game time. With this rule, no game ends as a draw.

Each team consists of a team captain and three sidekicks of the same type, as well as a goalkeeper. Every match of the game can be played in multiplayer. Up to four players can control a single team. If there are less than four players, they can switch their characters on the field, and the game switches control automatically to the next player when the ball is passed. Players can only control the goalie for a short time when he has the ball in hand. Because of this, the goalies are immune to all attacks by enemies or power-ups, and save most goals easily. The soccer fields are surrounded by an electric fence which electrocutes anybody who gets kicked against it by another player or by a power-up. The fence is placed right on the touchlines, preventing the ball and players from leaving the pitch. Thus, there are no throw-ins, goal kicks, or corner kicks, as seen in actual soccer.

One of the most notable changes is the non-existence of a referee. As such, there is no offside position and fouls are not punished. Players are given a variety of commands to kick or hit each other, which is a major part of the gameplay. Items (also called Power-Ups) exist as a help to the player to score a goal. They serve a function similar to the items in the Mario Kart series. To obtain an item, the player has to shoot the ball fiercely towards the goalposts. A player also gets an item when one of his players, who does not hold the ball, is tackled.

The Super Strike is a special ability of the team's captain. By performing it, the player can hit the ball straight to the goal. When the player manages to score a goal, it counts as two goals instead of one.

Power-ups are items that are obtained when the player attempts to make a goal, or gets fouled when not holding the ball. They appear at the top of the screen, on a bar displaying up to two items. The player can use the items to get or defend the ball, like tripping his or her opponents with bananas or summoning an huge Chain Chomp to stun them. Power-ups can be disabled at the Gameplay Mode screen. It is notable that the goalkeepers are immune to all sorts of power-ups, as they are to regular attack moves.

Banana Peels: Bananas are tossed on the floor and stay there until a character slips on it. They come in sets of 1 to 6 peels.

Normal Green Shells: Green shells fly in a straight line, bouncing off the walls and harming anybody who gets hit by them. They can be obtained as a single or triplets.

Normal Red Shells: When red shells are shot, they home in on the nearest character, tripping or knocking them over. Red shells are destroyed if they bump into walls. They can be obtained as a single or triplets.

Normal Blue Shells: Blue shells act just like green shells, but with one difference: they freeze their victims, rather than just knocking them over. Like the green and red shells, they come as singles or sets of three.

Normal Spiny Shells: Spiny shells act in a similar manner to green shells. However, when they come into contact with a character, they do not disappear, instead continuing until they either hit another item or bounce off the wall twice. This shell, as usual, can be obtained as either singles or triplets.

Giant Green Shells: Essentially a larger version of the green shell. Anything standing in the way of its destructive path will merely be bowled over. These shells are only available as a single.

Giant Red Shells: The red version of the giant shell. Unlike the small version, they continue to move after bumping into a wall. When initially shot off, they will home in on the nearest character, but afterwards, they merely act like a giant green shell. Like the green ones, they only come in sets of one shell.

Giant Blue Shells: Acts in the same manner as the giant green shells, with the exception of freezing characters on impact. On occasion, the shell will also explode on impact, affecting any nearby characters as well. Like the other giant shells, they only come in sets of one.

Giant Spiny Shells: These shells are completely unstoppable, leaving behind a trail of destruction anywhere they go. Only comes in sets of one.

Bob-ombs: After being thrown, these living explosives will stand still for a second, then blow up, affecting anyone who is too close to it. They can be obtained in sets of one or three.

Giant Bob-omb: Essentially a larger Bob-omb. Their explosion radius is roughly four times larger. Plus, it sends out a shockwave, harming anyone who is even near it.

Star: Doubles the user's speed, as well as harming anyone they come in contact with. Can only be obtained by the losing team.

Chain Chomp: This all-powerful huge monster will appear as a big shadow over the character who has the ball. Once it lands, it begins running around, hunting and stunning all of the opponents' members and destroying everything in its path. Chain Chomps do not go away without having stunned at least one character. Only the losing team can come into possession of a Chain Chomp.

There are four difficulty settings. The higher the difficulty is set, the more the passing, deking, and Super Strike skills of the CPU increase:

Novice (Rookie in the US version): A very easy level. CPU lets the player win and make Super Strikes.

Professional: An easy level. CPU will make some unexpected maneuvers, such as dekes and Super Strikes.

Superstar: Hard. The CPU takes the ball, and tries to make a goal. Also, the CPU can rumble the player's Super Strike meter to attempt throwing the player off.

Legend: Very hard. CPU can try to steal the ball and attack the player. If it has the ball, it can make dekes as soon as the player attempts to attack it. The CPU also attempts Perfect Strikes. It can rumble the player's Super Strike meter to attempt throwing the player off.

Note: In the Super Cups, the Novice (Rookie) setting is not available.

A tutorial menu. Players can learn the basics of the game and hone their skills. More than one player can participate, and the players can choose any character. While scores are counted, there is an infinite time limit. At the beginning of the match, there is a menu that automatically opens, and options show how to do certain techniques. During gameplay, a scrolling bar of information on the bottom shows what button inputs does what. Players can play only on Pipeline Central in this mode.

In concept artwork, Mario is shown wearing several different outfits, which were abandoned in favor of the design used in-game. Peach is also shown as wearing a different outfit. Early screenshots of the game showed different textures and outfits for characters. Super Strikes were also given to teammates and Team Captains were given different Super Strikes, which resemble the Mega Strikes used in the next game, Mario Strikers Charged.

This glitch can appear during matches. A character must hold the Football and go to the opponent's field. If the player shoots the ball towards the goalie without charging and at the same time is hit by a Blue Shell and frozen [1], the ball will remain stuck on his or her feet, but keeps emitting the purple ring caused by the kick infinite times while the victim is frozen. Because of that, the goalie responds to block the shot, repeatedly lunging and falling in an attempt to get the ball. In this state, the Ball cannot be taken by the other characters and the glitch wears off once the victim is unfrozen and shoots the ball normally.

If player two rapidly taps the and buttons on a captain, as player one pushes on the locked Super Team on the character select screen, the first player can play as Super Team without unlocking them.[2]

This glitch is mostly recommended with more than one player and with the Perfect Strike cheat code enabled. First, players must make sure that the rival captain is a tall player like Donkey Kong, Super Team, Waluigi or Wario, then choose any other captain for their team. Before doing the Perfect Strike, the rival captain (along with one or two sidekicks if possible) must get up close in front of the Kritter goalkeeper while he faces the player's captain, then do the Perfect Strike from a long distance and, if executed correctly, the rival captain will get hit by the ball and not the goalie, preventing the score. As a consequence, however, the Kritter goalkeeper will remain frozen at the end of the animation in which he fails to catch the Perfect Strike; not only that, but the camera will also be stuck on a different angle while still focusing on the ball.[3]

This is the only Mario Nintendo GameCube game to support 16:9 widescreen as well as 480p.

Concept art shows that Mario's team number was ten (10). When the game was released, the number 10 was assigned as Peach's team number, while the number 1 (usually reserved for goalkeepers) was assigned as Mario's team number.

This is the first game to feature Kenneth W. James who temporarily replaces Scott Burns as the voice of Bowser, a role that would become permanent starting with Super Mario Galaxy.

Likewise, Jen Taylor did not voice Princess Peach and Toad or record any new voice clips for the characters, even though the game was released before her departure from Nintendo, making it the only Nintendo GameCube Mario game where she does not voice Peach and Toad.

An unused promotional poster for this game was created but ultimately rejected due to it resembling a scrotum. In the image, two soccer balls dangle from a net bag, with the quote "You're gonna need a pair"[4].